You're editing is complete. Now what do you do?
You want to register/catalog your work, which also acts as your copyright. You also want to set you work up to be carried in bookstores and libraries, and the way to do this is with an ISBN which you can obtain at the following link - https://www.myidentifiers.com/
You can buy your ISBNs one at a time or in blocks,just depends on how much money you have available. I recommend purchasing a bar code at the time you purchase your ISBN. which is only an additional $25.00 and is available for download in less than 48 hours. Why the bar code? Stores and libraries must keep track of their inventory, and they do so through the use of bar codes. So, to make your work more attractive to stores and libraries, you should purchase your bar code at the time your purchase your ISBN and have the bar code "embedded" in your cover design (I'll talk about cover design in my next blog entry). Your bar code can also "contain" your price if you know what you plan to charge for your work, however, the tricky thing about setting a price before you know how much it's going to cost to print your work is that you could end up with little or no royalties. So I recommend picking a printer and finding out what it's going to cost to print your novel prior to setting a retail price. I will cover Picking A Printer in a future blog entry.
You should be prepared to upload your manuscript at the time you purchase your ISBN, as Bowker has to associate the ISBN with a specific body of work which why you want to complete your editing first so that you associate a "clean" version of your manuscript with your ISBN.
If your cover design (Again, I'll talk about this in my next blog entry) is complete, then you can upload it as well.
For such a simple task there are a lot of things to consider, so I'm going to let you muddle over what I've just shared before giving you more to think about. However, don't let what I've shared with you make you feel overwhelmed. While the process of self-publishing is complex, it's also simple and very rewarding once you hold your finished product in your hand!
Until next time, Happy Writing
G
G
P.S. I do one on one consultations, and the first 30 minutes is free of charge.
